Beta Tester
by Red Delphi
Summary: A local ad provides one woman with a unique vantage point within a certain high-stakes tournament.


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Pretty standard stuff here. I don't own Liar Game or any of the characters associated with it. All that goes to Kaitani Shinobu. I am merely borrowing his situations to create my own story. There's an author's note at the bottom if you're interested.

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_'**WANTED:** Creative, intelligent advisors for low risk/high profit venture. Applicants must be skilled in lateral thinking and willing to work independently.'_ Typically, anything with the words 'low risk/high profit' would have raised a big red flag with me, but the rest of it seemed too good to ignore. You know those people that in school gain the label "Doesn't play well with others?" Well, I guess you can say I'm one of them. So really, I would have taken a shot at anything that promised work that wouldn't force me to have to deal with people. Besides, I had assured myself, the job was asking for advisors, not participants, so I figured I could claim I technically had no part in whatever probably illegal doings these people were up to.

The only contact information on the ad was an email address called . I gotta admit, I hesitated at that name for a kind of weird reason. I couldn't pronounce it. It may seem silly, but I've always had a hang up about things I couldn't say with 100% certainty, mostly because I usually end up saying them wrong. In any case, I eventually figured that I wouldn't spend much time talking to whoever this was, and I probably wouldn't be calling him by his internet moniker anyway. So I sent the email, asking for more information, but trying hard not to give away anything about myself just yet. Something still seemed fishy about all this, so it seemed best to remain reserved.

A few weeks passed and nothing happened. I assumed they had rejected my email; decided I wasn't even worth their time. Imagine my surprise then when the package arrived at my door. I know I hadn't given them my address; it had seemed like too much to even give them my full name. Instead I signed off with the handle I always use when writing: S.T. August. There had to be hundreds of Augusts in this city; there's no way they could have found me with just that. Yet still, there it was on my doorstep plain as day; a box slightly larger than a desk drawer, wrapped in black paper, with the same logo that had been stamped on the bottom of the advertisement. Attached were two envelopes, one thick black one with red writing and the other plain black and white. Something about the red writing told me it was meant to be opened first, so I brought the package inside and opened the first letter inside.

_Congratulations, Miss Sarah Taylor August!_

_We have selected you as a Beta Tester for the amazing_

_**LIAR GAME TOURNAMENT!**_

_As a Beta Tester, your job is to play the game as normal players would, but under slightly different rules. Enclosed is a contract outlining these rules and your part within them. Please read and sign this contract before continuing any further._

Indeed there was a contract inside the envelope. It was a wordy document, and it took me over an hour to read carefully, but after a while I was fairly certain I understood it perfectly. The Liar Game apparently was some type of high-stakes gambling tournament, where the goal was to trick your opponent into giving you their money. All players were under the agreement that any means of doing so was fair play, short of violence. As a Beta Tester, I would be given the same instructions and supplies an average player would. My job was to participate in the game and analyze the set-up of each individual round to find ways to make the game more interesting for the players. These flaws could be of any nature, so long as the Beta Tester was able to explain how and why they should be changed and the change is approved by LGT officials. I was to be paid a small fee for every time I participated in the game, and I could repeat a round over several times if I wanted to, with no penalty to me. The downside of that though, was that if I happened to win any money while playing the game and then choose to repeat that round again, I wouldn't be allowed to keep my prize. The key was when I choose to tell the officials about any improvements I could find. I received a bonus for each improvement I found that was approved, so it was good to come up with a lot of ideas, but more importantly, I only received one chance to give all my findings each round. After I did so, the standings from that round would be valid –that is, if I had lost money I owed the company and if I won money I got to keep it. Win or lose, once the round is over I would be moved on to the next round, where the process would repeat itself.

There were a few other points to the contract, something about repercussions for if I was found to be acting against the company's interests, but honestly by that point it didn't much matter. This whole thing seemed even better than I hoped. I was just the sort of person this job seemed made for; I was always thinking about ways to make things more interesting, improving on other people's work was one of the few things I was good at. Finding ways to fix the rules of this game would be child's play for me. Eagerly I signed the contract and turned to open the box that would start my participation in the Liar Game.

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**Author's Note:** Well, I guess it's official. This is my first fan fiction. Does that make me a geek now? I should probably give props to 019, the only other (at the time I'm writing this) fan fiction writer for Liar Game on this website. You **rock** for putting yourself out there like that, though I still can't say I like what you put out.

Anyway, I feel like I should explain my premise for this story. While reading Liar Game, the complex nature of each of the rounds fascinated me. I found myself thinking there was no way one man was able to think of situations so perfect on his own. That got me thinking about how the LGT must have come up with their system, at least fictionally speaking. It should have been a long process, with plenty of trial and error to get the perfect balance. This story forcuses on that process, as seen through the eyes of someone at the ground level. Although this was originally intended to be set prior to Nao Kanzaki and Shinichi Akiyamas' involvement in the Liar Game, it occured to me things would be more interesting if the Beta Players like Sarah were being mixed in with regular players like Nao. This doesn't necessarily mean that regular canon characters are going to make an appearance, but that the possiblity exists if I can find a purpose for it. Another point I should make is that this story is a means to point out missed opprotunities within the storyline. I'm sure many fans while reading Liar Game may have found themselves thinking "If I were in that place I would have done this, I don't see why that possibility didn't occur." Tell me about these thoughts and if I can find a place for them they will be worked in, with credit for the idea going to you.

The most important statement I have to make here is regarding criticism. I know I've got to take some, and that with the sort of things I've said in the past karma requires I get more than my fair share, but I have a request regarding it. My request is that critics follow the same rules I have set up for Sarah regarding her criticisms. That is, if you have a problem with how I write, state exactly what is the problem, why this should be considered a problem, and what sort of changes should be made to fix it.


End file.
